Suitcase window display

Spotted in Oasis, Covent Garden. Suitcases in a window display... Idea first seen in Prada, Paris, last December (see earlier blog entry...)
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Tying up loose ends and evaluation of first stage

I Packed This Myself schools workshops over for the summer term and we're just carrying out an evaluation of the first stage. All the feedback sheets and questionnaires that we distributed will prove useful.

We'll start advertising autumn term workshops at the start of July....

Camborne School then Ponsanooth

Today is our last day of classroom workshops this term - and we start off in Camborne, my home town. Camborne is one place where I really wanted to take this project. In the season, hundreds of workers are in the town - and off season, too, increasingly now. We'd seen and learned about the lack of connection they had with local people when we staged I Packed This Myself at DMT Galleries.

And this morning is no disappointment. This was one of the most impressive groups we have worked with this year. Lots of students had gone to the Royal Cornwall Show (it's the first day) so we had large group of those remaining - nearly 40. They were shy at first, then truly engaged with the subject.

Much of the background research on migrant workers had been done locally. They knew the places we were talking about.  Inga talked about the things that she had brought with her in her bag - her athletics record, her interest in running and rock climbing, and her dream to be a police officer or go into the army. Vadim, again, showed his Sherlock Holmes novels (in Russian) and the religious amulet given to him by his grandmother and a small plaster angel, from his girlfriend.  It was a captive audience. At the end one girl asked if Inga thought she would achieve her dreams. Inga said yes, she did. In life there are some people who will, of course, achieve their dreams because they are determined, and Inga is probably one of them. At the end others asked questions and one girl in particular (far left in the photo above) made a statement: I think you work very hard and deserve every penny you earn, she said.

We were, frankly, touched. And even more so when the student teachers asked Inga and Vadim to stay behind afterwards. They went upstairs to the staff room and googled athletics clubs that Inga might be interested in joining, and telephone numbers of places where Vadim might be able to pursue his medical career. It was an extraordinary morning.

Then off to Redruth and down the Falmouth road to Ponsanooth, for our first workshops with Primary School age children.  Kennal Vale Primary School is a small oasis of calm and concentration.  The children were a delight.  We talked about journeys and people who had made difficult transitions. I introduced Vadim (Inga had gone back to work) and asked there were questions. A forest of hands... So many questions that the hour goes by very quickly.  Children get into groups and think about things that they might take on journeys themselves, to remind them of home. They are interested to see the contents of Vadim's bag.  One girl considers taking hawthorn blossom that she picked in the playground at lunchtime.

Second day in Newquay and lively discussions

Our second day in a row at Treviglas, Newquay. Inga Riaukaité comes too. Inga was one of the four workers at SEF (Southern England Farms) who made the film, The Hidden Life of a Cornish Farm, that we showed at Penair School, Truro, in March.  Pick her, and Vadim, up from SEF in Leedstown at 7am.  It's an early start for us all...

We have three classes during the morning. And lively discussions. Inga is from Lithuania. One boy asks whether if French is the language spoken in Lithuania. Another asks whether all the buildings are red - he has heard so.
All are very interested to hear about the work that Inga (a qualified industrial engineer) and Vadim (former medical student, ballroom dancing champion of Latvia and keen fisherman) are now doing on the land. Both have worked in the fields, cutting cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli etc. Inga now works in the packhouse as a supervisor.
We ask if anyone has a dream of being a doctor some day? Out of 75 children in the three classes this morning - one has this ambition. Vadim is surprised that there are not more.
Inga's dream is to be either a police officer or join the army.
She is a champion runner (having run for Vilnius). She runs every morning on the North Cliffs (near Godrevy). She is also a keen climber who's next aim is to go pot-holing. She loves clubbing - she has visited Newquay before! Her energy and enthusiasm, in fact, fill the classrooms ...
Today - as yesterday  - few students knew about the Soviet Union and its history. Some were able to point to Lithuania and Latvia on the map.
But one girl in particular, out of the blue, said this morning she was very interested in the Soviet Union and its former republics. She understood something about the pressures Vadim (as a Russian) had faced in the country after independence.
It has been interesting to see in the workshops this year how different classes have different dynamics and levels of engagement with the subject. This engagement has nothing to do with academic achievement. It all seems to depend on the students' spirit and openness to new ideas.

This morning is full of surprises. We ask students to write lists of the things that they would pack in their suitcases, if they had to leave home to create a life in another country.
Inga and Vadim have brought bags filled with things that they actually did bring here when they arrived, in search of work.

Inga shows students a mini t-shirt that her friends gave her: they knew that she had once wanted to join the army. "Inga, the army needs you!" says the slogan. She's also brought a photo of her athletic team...

And photos of herself training and rockclimbing....

Plus her graduation certificate. To remind herself of her ambition and her dreams.

Journeys made to and from Newquay...

Today's workshops are in Treviglas School, Newquay. It's the first day back after Half Term - a good day to be talking about journeys. Had anyone been away on holiday?

Vadim Hothova, from Southern England Farms, is here to help. Ewa Cimochowska has had to go back to Poland, with her husband Waldek, as her mother has had a stroke. We miss her - but Vadim steps bravely into the breach.

We're working with Year 9 students, as we have done elsewhere. This is a good and interesting cohort to work with. There are links to be made with other areas of the Curriculum. The classes we worked with today were going on to learn about the former Soviet Union, and Stalingrad, in history.
In some of the classes we spoke to, students did not quite know what the Soviet Union was - or had been.
It was relevant. Vadim explained how he, a Latvian, had a Russian heritage and had experienced difficulties at University because his professor - he felt - had made things difficult for Russians.

But first, we lay the groundwork for discussions. We tell the classes how we have been working elsewhere. Everywhere, people's responses have been different. In this school, in each of the three classes we work with, there are children whose parents have moved to Cornwall from overseas. We only realise this when they fill in answers to our initial questionnaire.... Have you ever made a journey? Have you ever lived in a country where you don't speak the language?
It's a school with a strongly 60s feel. A very familiar look to the place. Palm trees included. As a quick look at photos of Helston and Penair will reveal...

But all students are different. We handed out our questionnaire at the start. And most students found the last question the toughest: What is the most difficult thing you have ever done?
The answers were quite touching. A few students said living through their parents splitting up. Or facing up to the death of a grandparent.
But a surprising number said their most difficult experience - in life so far - involved leaving friends behind, and moving to a new place to start a new life.
This, of course, is exactly what Vadim had done.
We talked about his experience. He told us how it had been. In Latvia, he had studied medicine. He had been National Junior Ballroom Dancing Champion. But things had been tough. Sometimes he had worked 22 hours a day to make ends meet. I couldn't imagine how anyone could do that. What about 'night', and sleeping?
But apparently you can do that if you have two jobs, and sleep during your breaks at both. You can sleep for 20 minutes intervals during this time - if you are used to it.
But, clearly, it was not a life-style that could be sustained for long. Vadim moved to the UK. He worked on a flower farm in Cornwall before moving to SEF, where he works now. SEF, one of the UK's largest vegetable producers, is based near Leedstown. They grow cauliflower, cabbage, courgettes and spring greens on farms all over the county.

We also talked about other workers who had moved to Cornwall from overseas. The Portuguese, for example, who live in the Bodmin area and work at local meat processing factories. We showed photography by Tom Pilston. For the first time, we have students who recognise some of the places featured - Bugle, Roche and Bodmin.  One student recognises Bugle as his uncle has a butcher's shop there.
We look at the Portuguese suitcase, filled with items that Portuguese workers brought to Cornwall when they moved here to find work. We play the usual game of trying to work out the reasons for certain items. (There are no Portuguese in the class, but people make informed guesses).

Then Vadim reveals what he brought with him when he came to the UK.  He explains: detective novels. Sherlock Holmes in Russian.

Plus - a medal. This is a medal for fishing: another area in which he excels. A Catholic icon, given to him by his grandmother and a plaster angel, given to him by his girlfriend. The angel is a good luck charm. He carries it with him, wherever he goes (even when working).
Everyone has a good luck charm, it seems.
It is pouring with rain when we drive back.
On the way home, buy some delphiniums from a stall by the side of the road. Seasons change and so do the flowers. The daffodils, naturally, are long gone.